The document provides guidelines for effective website design. It discusses the importance of understanding your audience, focusing on usability, and measuring results. Key elements to include on pages are perceptible menus, a home button, logo, search field, and utility navigation. Headings and sections should describe information to help users. Navigation should be consistent, simple, and persistent. Images should be high quality, related to content, and feature smiling faces. Content and headers are most important. Measure website usage and test usability with users.

1. Website Design Understanding the Basics

3. Think usability above all else.

4. No one is reading your website.

7. What are the benefits of this organization to you? (WIIFM)

8. Can you tell me something about recent developments?

11. Utility Navigation

12. Sections and Headings Save Time Headings that describe the information below them save users time Offer white space, borders, and color to help users see the sections and the topics Chunk information Provide headings for each section Be careful not to make the headings look so big or colorful that they look like an add or promotion

14. Interlude – Sound Smart Definition Information Architecture – The combination of organizing, labeling, and navigation within an information system The structural design of an information space to facilitate task completion and intuitive access to content The art and science of classifying and structuring websites to help people find and manage information Source: Rosenfeld, L and Morville, P (2002). Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (2nd Edition) Sebastapol, CA: O’Reilly Media, Inc.

15. Navigation Navigation should be consistent, simple, and persistent Branding and marketing in menus confuses people A link is a promise. The link name sets the user’s expectation for what is to come Use the most specific words you can for links. Try to avoid using links titled “more”, etc. Links should change colors when clicked Use breadcrumbs

16. “Yahoo” Style navigation may satisfy your various coworkers, who all think their stuff belongs on the home page, but there is a reason why Google is the preferred search engine Avoid Branding in Navigation. It doesn’t make sense to your user

17. Fundamental (and boring) elements Contact Us – only 2% of users ever look at the contact us section of a website. However, contact adds credibility to your organization, and helps users who can’t find the information they are looking for Privacy Policy – users almost never look at the privacy policy, but it adds to your credibility and should be included in the utility navigation

18. Images

19. Characteristics of “Good” Images High contrast and high quality Cropped, rather than overly reduced, when necessary to fit a small space Not excessively detailed; easy to interpret Highly related to the content on the page, exciting Smiling and approachable faces People looking at (or at least facing) the camera Clear instructions or information

21. Medium quality, contrast

22. Highly related to the content

25. Is not related to the program, and is not easy to interpret

27. No relation to the program

28. Faces are not looking at the camera

29. Picture is only slightly related to the content

31. Do NOT use Flash Do keep videos and other multimedia elements short Do include videos that enhance your content. Do NOT include videos simply because you can

32. Do limit the amount your user has to scroll Do NOT use splash pages Do make sure your content is current and valid

33. Typography – The Basics Use sans serif fonts When in doubt, use Verdana Limit the number of font styles (and color) For a general audience, use 10-12 point font For a senior audience use 12-14 point font Black text on white background is the most readable, followed by blue text on white background

34. Writing for the Web Content should be the focus of your design. Content and headers are noticed first – even before images. Make sure your content is scan able Highlight key words Use concise and descriptive titles and headings Use bulleted and numbered lists Use simple, conversational language Tone down marketing hype Summarize key points and pare down.

35. Measure & Test Always measure your site and test your users against your expectations For measuring, use Google Analytics or a similar program to find out what pages are being most looked at, how long people are spending on each page, and where they are coming from. Conduct regular usability tests with your users. Don’t simply rely on surveys. Ask your users to conduct certain tasks/find certain information and watch how they go about doing it. Is your site set-up to be usable?